Branch group of instructions

Branch instructions provide lot of convenience to the programmer to perform operations

selectively, repetitively etc.
Branch group of instructions
Conditional
jumps
Uncondi-tional
jump
Iteration
instructions
CALL
instructions
Return
instructions
Conditional Jump instructions
Conditional Jump instructions in 8086 are just 2 bytes long. 1-byte opcode followed by
1-byte signed displacement (range of 128 to +127).
Conditional Jump Instructions
Jumps based on a single flag Jumps based on more than one flag
Jumps Based on a single flag
JZ r8 ;Jump if zero flag set (if result is 0). JE also means same.
JNZ r8 ;Jump if Not Zero. JNE also means same.
JS r8 ;Jump if Sign flag set to 1 (if result is negative)
JNS r8 ;Jump if Not Sign (if result is positive)
JC r8 ;Jump if Carry flag set to 1. JB and JNAE also mean same.
JNC r8 ;Jump if No Carry. JAE and JNB also mean same.
JP r8 ;Jump if Parity flag set to 1. JPE (Jump if Parity Even) also means same.
JNP r8 ;Jump if No Parity. JPO (Jump if Parity Odd) also means same.
JO r8 ;Jump if Overflow flag set to 1 (if result is wrong)
JNO r8 ;Jump if No Overflow (if result is correct)
JE is abbreviation for Jump if Equal. JNE is abbreviation for Jump if Not Equal.
JB is abbreviation for Jump if Below. JNAE is for Jump if Not Above or Equal.
JAE for Jump if Above or Equal. JNB for Jump if Not Above.
JZ, JNZ, JC and JNC used after arithmetic operation
JE, JNE, JB, JNAE, JAE and JNB are used after a compare operation.
Examples for JE or JZ instruction
Ex. for forward jump
Only examples using JE instruction given for forward and backward jumps.
CMP SI, DI
JE SAME
ADD CX, DX ;Executed if Z = 0
Should be<=127 bytes : (if SI not equal to DI)
:
SAME: SUB BX, AX ;Executed if Z = 1
(if SI = DI)
Ex. for backward jump
BACK: SUB BX,AX ;Executed if Z = 1 (if SI=DI)
:
Should be
<=127 bytes
:
CMP SI, DI
JE BACK
ADD CX,DX ;Executed if Z = 0 (if SI <> DI)
Jumping beyond -128 to +127?
Requirement Then do this!
CMP SI, DI CMP SI, DI
JE SAME JNE NEXT
What if
>127 bytes
SAME:
ADD CX, DX JMP SAME
: NEXT: ADD CX, DX
: :
SUB BX, AX :
SAME: SUB BX, AX
Range for JMP (unconditional jump) can be +2
15
= + 32K. JMP instruction discussed in
detail later
Terms used in comparison
Jump based on multiple flags
Conditional Jumps based on multiple flags are used after a CMP (compare) instruction.
JBE / JNA instruction
Jump if Below or Equal or Jump if Not Above
Jump if No Jump if Ex.
Cy = 1 OR Z= 1 Cy = 0 AND Z = 0 CMP BX, CX
Below OR Equal Surely Above JBE BX_BE
BX_BE (BX is Below or Equal) is a symbolic location
JNBE / JA instruction
Jump if Not (Below or Equal) or Jump if Above
Jump if No Jump if Ex.
Cy = 0 AND Z= 0 Cy = 1 OR Z = 1 CMP BX, CX
Surely Above Below OR Equal JBE BX_BE
JLE / JNG instruction
Jump if Less than OR Equal or Jump if Not Greater than
Jump if No Jump if
[(S=1 AND V=0) OR (S=0 AND V=0)]
OR Z=1
[(S=0 AND V=0) OR (S=1 AND V=1)]
AND Z=0
[(surely negative) or (wrong answer
positive!)] or Equal
[(surely positive) or (wrong answer
negative!)] and not equal
i.e. [S XOR V=1] OR Z=1 i.e.[S XOR V=0] AND Z=0
Above and Below used for comparing Unsigned numbers. Greater than and less than used
when comparing signed numbers. All Intel microprocessors use this convention.
Accordingly, all the following statements are true.
95H is above 65H Unsigned comparison - True
95H is less than 65H Signed comparison True (as 95H is negative, 65H is positive)
65H is below 95H Unsigned comparison - True
65H is greater than 95H Signed comparison - True
JNLE / JG instruction
Jump if Not (Less than OR Equal) or Jump if Greater than
Jump if No Jump if
[(S=0 AND V=0) OR (S=1 AND V=1)]
AND Z=0
[(S=1 AND V=0) OR (S=0 AND V=1)]
OR Z=1
[(surely positive) or (wrong answer
negative!)] and not equal
[(surely negative) or (wrong answer
positive!)] or equal
i.e. S XOR V=0 AND Z=0 i.e.S XOR V=1 OR Z=1
JL / JNGE instruction
Jump if Less than or Jump if NOT (Greater than or Equal)
Jump if No Jump if
[S=1 AND V=0] OR [S=0 AND V=1] [S=0 AND V=0] OR [S=1 AND V=1]
(surely negative)or (wrong answer
positive!)
(surely positive) or (wrong answer
negative!)
i.e. S XOR V=1 i.e.S XOR V=0
Note: When S=1, result cannot be 0
JNL / JGE instruction
Jump if Not Less than or Jump if Greater than OR Equal
Jump if No Jump if
[S=0 AND V=0] OR (S=1 AND V=1) [S=1 AND V=0] OR (S=1 AND V=1)
(surely positive) or (wrong answer
negative!)
(surely negative) or (wrong answer
positive!)
i.e. S XOR V=0 i.e.S XOR V=1
Note: When S=0, result can be >= 0
Unconditional Jump instruction
Unconditional Jump Instruction
Near Jump or Intra segment Jump Far Jump or Inter segment Jump
(Jump within the segment) (Jump to a different segment)
Near Unconditional Jump instruction
Near Jump
Direct Jump (common) Indirect Jump (uncommon)
2-bytes Short Jump (EB r8) 3-bytes Long Jump (E9 r16) 2 or more bytes
Starting with FFH
Range: complete segment
Range: + 2
7
Range: +2
15
Three Near Jump and two Far Jump instructions have the same mnemonic JMP, but they
have different opcodes
Short Jump Instruction
2 byte (EB r8) instruction with Range: -128 to +127 bytes
For Backward jump: Assembler knows the quantum of jump. Generates Short Jump code
if <=128 bytes is the required jump. Generates code for Long Jump if >128 bytes is the
required jump.
For Forward jump: Assembler doesnt know jump quantum in pass 1. Assembler
reserves 3 bytes for the forward jump instruction. If jump distance turns out to be >128
bytes, the instruction is coded as E9 r16 (E9H = Long jump code). If jump distance
becomes <=128 bytes, the instruction is coded as EB r8 followed by code for NOP (E8H
= Short jump code).
SHORT Assembler Directive
Assembler generates only 2 byte Short Jump code for forward jump, if the SHORT
assembler directive is used.
JMP SHORT SAME
:
Programmer should ensure that
the Jump distance is <=127 bytes
:
SAME: MOV CX, DX
Long Jump instruction
3-byte (E9 r16) instruction with Range: -32768 to +32767 bytes
Long Jump can cover entire 64K bytes of Code segment
CS:0000H :
:
Long Jump can handle it as jump
quantum is <=32767
CS:8000H JMP FRWD
:
:
FRWD = CS:FFFFH :
Long Jump can handle it as jump
quantum is <=32767
BKWD= CS:0000H :
:
CS:8000H JMP BKWD
:
FRWD = CS:FFFFH :
Long Jump or Short Jump?
Can be treated as a
small (20H) Backward
Branch!
CS:0000H :
Jump distance =FFE0H.
Too very long forward
jump.
:
CS:0010H JMP FRWD
:
FRWD = CS:FFF0H :
:
CS:FFFFH :
Can be treated as a
small (20H)
Forward Branch!
CS:0000H :
Jump distance =FFE0H.
Too very long
backward jump
:
BKWD = CS:0010H :
:
CS:FFF0H JMP BKWD
:
CS:FFFFH :
Intra segment indirect Jump
It is also called Near Indirect Jump. It is not commonly used.
Instruction length: 2 or more bytes Range: complete segment
Ex.1: JMP DX
If DX = 1234H, branches to CS:1234H. 1234H is not signed relative displacement.
Ex. 2: JMP wordptr 2000H[BX]
If BX contents is 1234H DS:3234H 5678H
Branches to CS:5678H DS:3236H AB22H
Far Jump instruction
Far Jump
Direct Jump (common) Indirect Jump (uncommon)
5 bytes, opcode EA, 2 byte offset,
2 byte segment value
2 or more bytes,
starting with opcode FFH
Range: anywhere in memory Range: anywhere in memory
As stated earlier, three Near Jump and two Far Jump instructions have the same
mnemonic JMP but different opcodes.
Inter segment Direct Jump instruction
Also called Far Direct Jump. It is the common inter segment jump scheme
It is a 5 byte instruction. 1 byte opcode (EAH), 2 byte offset value, 2 byte segment value
Ex. JMP Far ptr LOC
Inter segment Indirect Jump instruction
Also called Far Indirect Jump. It is not commonly used. Instruction length depends on the
way jump location is specified. It can be a minimum of 2 bytes.
Ex. JMP DWORD PTR 2000H[BX]
If BX contents is 1234H branch takes place to location ABCDH:5678H. It is a 4-byte
instruction.
DS:3234H 5678H
DS:3236H ABCDH
Iteration Instructions
Iteration instructions provide a convenient way to implement loops in a program
Iteration instructions
LOOP LOOPZ or LOOPE LOOPNZ or LOOPNE JCXZ
LOOP Instruction
Let us say, we want to repeat a set of instructions 5 times.
For 8085 processor For 8086processor
MVI C, 05H MOV CX, 0005H
AGAIN: MOV B, D AGAIN: MOV BX, DX
: :
DCR C LOOP AGAIN
JNZ AGAIN
General format: LOOP r8; r8 is 8-bit signed value. It is a 2 byte instruction.
Used for backward jump only. Maximum distance for backward jump is only 128 bytes.
LOOP AGAIN is almost same as: DEC CX
JNZ AGAIN
LOOP instruction does not affect any flags.
If CX value before entering the iterative loop is:
0005, then the loop is executed 5 times till CX becomes 0
0001, then the loop is executed 1 time till CX becomes 0
0000, then the loop is executed FFFF+1 = 10000H times!
JCXZ Instruction
Jump if CX is Zero is useful for terminating the loop immediately if CX value is 0000H
It is a 2 byte instruction. It is used for forward jump only. Maximum distance for forward
jump is only 127 bytes.
Ex. MOV CX, SI
JCXZ SKIP
AGAIN: MOV BX, DX
:
:
LOOP AGAIN
SKIP: ADD SI, DI ; Executed after JCXZ if CX = 0
LOOPZ instruction
LOOP while Zero is a 2-byte instruction. It is used for backward jump only. Backward
jump takes place if after decrement of CX it is still not zero AND Z flag = 1. LOOPE is
same as LOOPZ. LOOPE is abbreviation for LOOP while Equal. LOOPE is normally
used after a compare instruction.
Ex. MOV CX, 04H
BACK: SUB BX, AX
MOV BX, DX
:
:
ADD SI, DI
LOOPZ BACK ; if SI+DI = 0 and CX not equal to 0, branch to BACK
CALL Instructions
CALL instruction is used to branch to a subroutine. There are no conditional Call
instructions in 8086.
CALL instructions
Near CALL or Intra segment CALL Far CALL or Inter segment CALL
Near Direct CALL Near Indirect CALL Far Direct CALL Far Indirect CALL
Near Direct CALL instruction
It is a 3-byte instruction. It has the format CALL r16 and has the range + 32K bytes.
Covers the entire Code segment. It is the most common CALL instruction.
It is functionally same as the combination of the instructions PUSH IP and ADD IP, r16.
Ex. CALL Compute
Near Indirect CALL instruction
Not commonly used. Instruction length depends on the way the called location is
specified.
Ex.1: CALL AX ; If (AX) = 1234H, branches to procedure at CS: 1234H.
1234H is not relative displacement.
Ex. 2: CALL word ptr 2000H[BX]
If BX contents is1234H Branches to subroutine at CS:5678H
DS:3234H 5678H
DS:3236H ABCDH
Far Direct CALL instruction
It is a 5-byte instruction. 1-byte opcode, 2-byte offset, 2-byte segment value.
Far direct CALL is functionally same as:
PUSH CS
PUSH IP
IP = 2-byte offset value provided in CALL
CS = 2-byte segment value provided in CALL
Ex. CALL far ptr Compute
Far Indirect CALL instruction
Not commonly used. Instruction length depends on the way the called location is
specified.
Ex. CALL dword ptr 2000H[BX]
If BX contents is1234H bBranches to subroutine at ABCDH:5678H
DS:3234H 5678H
DS:3236H ABCDH
Conditional CALL?
What if we want to branch to subroutine COMPUTE only if Cy flag = 0?
Solution:
JC NEXT
CALL COMPUTE ; execute only if Cy = 0
NEXT:
RETURN instructions
RET is abbreviation for Return from subroutine
RET instructions
Near RET or Intra segment RET Far RET or Inter segment RET
RET RET d16 RET RET d16
Near RET instruction
It is 1-byte instruction. Opcode is C3H. It is functionally same as : POP IP
Ex:
Compute Proc Near ; indicates it is a NEAR procedure
:
:
RET
Compute ENDP ; end of procedure Compute
In fact, default procedure type is NEAR
Near RET d16 instruction
It is a 3-byte instruction. 1-byte opcode (C2H) and 2-byte data. It is functionally same as:
POP IP
SP = SP + d16
Ex. RET 0004H
RET d16 is useful for flushing out the parameters that were passed to the subroutine
using the stack
Use of RET d16 instruction
Main Program
:
: SP after CALL Compute IP
PUSH Var1 Var2
PUSH Var2 Var1
CALL Compute SP before PUSH Var1
:
:
Subroutine
COMPUTE PROC Near IP
: SP if RET is executed Var2
: Var1
RET 0004H SP if RET 0004H is executed
COMPUTE ENDP
Far RET instruction
It is 1-byte instruction. Opcode is CBH. It is functionally same as: POP IP + POP CS
Ex. SINX Proc Far ; indicates it is a FAR procedure
:
:
RET
SINX ENDP ; end of procedure SINX
Default procedure type is NEAR
Far RET d16 instruction
It is a 3-byte instruction. 1-byte opcode (CAH) and 2-byte data.
It is functionally same as: POP IP + POP CS + ADD SP, d16
Ex. RET 0006H
RET d16 is useful for flushing out the parameters that were passed to the subroutine
using the stack.